French instructors for anti-terrorist training in Mali

BAMAKO - The French army instructors have recently made a marker in the north of Mali, to prepare the training of hundreds of Malian military to technics of fight against terrorism, said Monday corroborating sources.

"Last Friday, a French military plane has quietly arrived in Mopti (600 km north of Bamako), with a cargo of French military instructors," said an airport source contacted by AFP in Mopti.

"They came to assess the needs of our troops before the start of training for hundreds of Malian military in the fight against terrorism and insecurity in northern Mali," confirmed an official of the governorate of the Mopti region.

According to the overlap of the AFP, this training will be the 62nd Motorized Infantry Regiment of the 6th Military Region in Mali, based in Sévaré (15 km from Mopti). It consists of three companies of Rapid Intervention (CIR), considered the elite troops of the Malian army.

This training comes as France has ferried military equipment to Mali.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised that France would help Mali in its fight against terrorism, when he paid a brief visit on Feb. 25 in Bamako, in welcoming the release of French hostage, Pierre Camatte, held for three months by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

For several years, "special forces" of U.S. soldiers trained the Malian army control the technics of fight against terrorism in the desert.